South Africa’s Competition Commission has penalized major tech firms, including Google and Meta, for anti-competitive practices that it says harm local media.
Why it matters
The ruling could reshape how global tech giants operate in South Africa, forcing them to support local journalism financially and reduce bias toward foreign media.
The details
- Google must pay local news publishers up to 500 million rand ($27 million) annually for five years to compensate for lost revenue.
- Meta, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and TikTok face requirements to eliminate algorithmic bias favoring foreign media and to promote local, vernacular, and community news.
- The commission found that digital platforms limit competition by restricting local publishers’ ability to monetize traffic.
The big picture
Local newsrooms in South Africa have struggled to stay profitable, with subscription models unviable for public and community media.
The commission’s remedies, though still provisional, apply only to the South African arms of the cited tech firms.
Source: Bloomberg
